Creative Learners in Physical Chemistry and Modern Physics Leon L. combs' Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762
All teachers, probably beginning with those a t Plato's Academy, have wanted to see their students develop into creative thinkers, which traditionally has meant being able to solve ~ r o b l e m sand analvze situations throueh proper use of keductive logic. %aching students to thGk critically has been the subject of much literature including the excellent book by Meyers ( I ) .Agood example of articles appearing recently that deal with how students should learn chemistry, mostly related to "general chemistry" is the article by Barrow (2).Among other topics, Barrow mentions the article by Bodner (3)on the "constructivism" theorv of learning which postulates that learners should be actively const&cting reality as opposed to simply memoruing facts and procedures. This latter approach is alos discussed in the article by Pestel (4), who expresses the opinion of many of us who have opposed the procedural approach taught by texts, which include so many sample step-by-step solutions. Unfortunately, it seems that most studentsdo approach studying by memorizing the facts, memorizing the step-by-step examples given them by the texts, and then working homework by finding a memorized procedure that utilized the variables of the given problem. The purpose of this article is to report a teaching approach-de&ned to force students ofphysical chemistry and modern physics into developing their creative abilities bv reouirine their oartici~ationin four specific study ketho'ds. ~ c may'still e ~ al;proach studying'for a test b i the memorization method. but. bv ex~osinethem to a different way of studying, it' is hbpkd that most will choose these different methods or creative modifications of them. Methods Over the years, reading articles on methods of invoking creative thinking among students has led me to conclude that there are four basic components that can be incorporated into a teaching package designed to stimulate ;reativity in learning. Example citations are given only for the purpose of clarification, and apologizes are extended to the many other authors.
Wilson and Chalmers-Neubauer (7) reported on using reading comprehension to promote bette; understanding They define of material related to laboratory experiments. four levels of reading comprehension: ~
1) literal (author's meaning), 2)
inferential (clarify),
3) evaluative (judgmental),and 4) creative (extensions).
All of these levels are important, but the last seems like the point a t which original ideas about the subject matter materialize. Computer Assistance There are many articles appearing weekly on the use of com~utersto demonstrate concepts in science. The paper by ~ l l b e eand Jones (8)discusses using computeFaigorithms to do complicated problems involving modern equations of state and lists some other applications in chemistry. Their paper presents one example project that their students might be required to do in a physical chemistry course. A problem with this approach is that not all students have programming skills, and the authors state that programs could be made available to the students. The computer programs in\dved are considered as tools to be used in the total understanding of concepts rather than a goal in thcmsclves. Cena~nlycomputcr hardware and soRware have progressed to tht! puint where they are an easential part of the understanding of ahatract concepts. Oral Presentations and the Group Approach Rodgers (9)had students present material in class as an aid to developing a n appropriate inorganic chemistry course. Each student chose a main group of the periodic table and. amone other thines...Dresented a 70-min lecture on the group. He states "Students gained experience in workine with both ~ r i m a r vand secondam references, in distilling material 'for prisentation to a -gmup of fellow chemistry majors, and in talking about chemistry in front of a group." As I read this I was struck by the possibilities of enhancing creative learning using student presentations. Our classes are too large for such lengthy presentations by each student, but I knew from experience the value of small group discussions by students in understanding material, so assigning small group class presentations would combine all the requirements of preparing oral presentations with group discussions, and allow the groups to develop their presentations using the strengths of all members of the groups. These four teaching techniques involve students approaching creative learning from different points of view, and the incorporation of them into the classes was phased in over a two-year period as various approaches were studied.
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Writing Many authors have discussed the poor ability of students to wnte, and some have proposed that writlng can be an a ~ dto learn~ngEmlg (5, considered how wntlng mlght be a "unlque m d e " of lcnrnmg. Thall and Bays 16 discussed the use of writing assignments in teaching chemistry in which they have stressed the precise use of words and organization of thoughts. Thall and Bays did not grade the required short reports in their class but conclude that requiring the reports increased the students' abilities to think on paper. Certainly before we can express our thouehts on DaDer thev must be clear to us. and it seems thatrequiriig itudents to write on concepts such as the ~eriodictable and collieative ~ es help . r o.~ e r t i should . Dro. mote a clear understanding, which is one step in becoming a creative thinker.
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'Present address: Kennesaw State College, Kennesaw, GA 301 44.
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Reading
Journal of Chemical Education
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Computer Assistance
Applications Reading
Wilson and Chalmers-Neubauer (7) present three methods for increasing reading comprehension. One of the methods they call "mapping", which has as a goal "to create a picture that illustrates the interconnections within the information presented as well as to related information". In line with this "mapping" concept, several years ago I began requiring the students to prepare an outline of each chapter, which was due before the second lecture covering the chapter. The idea was to force the students to have an overview of the chapter while the lecture was presenting details. The f r s t reading of the textbook that they must do is then reading to prepare an outline. This type of reading is surely just literal, but I also noticed an increase in insightful questions aRer students began writing the outlines. Wilson and Chalmers-Neuhauer (7) call a second strategy "Request"; its goal "is to help students achieve higher levels of comprehension through questioning and analysis", where the questioning is oral and by both the teacher and the students a t different comprehension levels. It seems that if students know that they will be asked questions of a creative nature based upon a reading assignment, their reading comprehension is boosted more towards the creative stage. To conserve class time, this application was included in the oral presentation to be discussed below. Writing
Thall and Bays (6)state that 'The aim of the exercises was not to attain a smooth style; instead, the aim was to prepare students to think clearly on paper." They say that their assignments did accomplishthis goal. One tactic that they used was to require students to write an analogy illustrating some topic that requires some creativity, such as using an analogy from outside of chemistry to illustrate colligative properties. This type of analogy writing seems similar to reporting for a nonscientific audience. Thus I first tried requiring each member of a physical chemistry class to choose an article from recent (within the past two years) issues of this Journal and to write a brief report on it for a nonscientific audience and cite a minimum of five other references. The only requirement regarding the article was that it had to he related to physical chemistry and approved by me. This approach resulted in the students reading some outside of the textbook and thinking about the writing, but the quality of most of the reports was disappointing because, while they were technically sound, they lacked creativity. Most students seemed to wait until just before the due date and hastily fulfill the basic requirement, which probablv does not surprise manv read&. some studedts did an excefientjob add demonstrated clear. creative thinkine in oresentina abstract topics in an easily understandable manner. The next approach was to separate the class, usually about 30 students, into groups to see if discussions among the groups would lead to reports demonstrating more creativity. The students were allowed to sort themselves into groups of three or four. Usually there were a few students who do not know any other students so I will assign them to a group. Each group was required to prepare a written reoort with the same reouirements as above. I also decided to combine this approach with requiring each group to make an oral presentation, so this approach will be discussed below.
ow ever,
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Computer projects were assigned to each group rather than to each individual since some ~roblemswould involve writing computer code, and not all students have sufficient programming experience to write the codes. I believe it is important that everyone know something about writing code to solve a particular problem to avoid the "black box syndrome", at ieast to some extent. Each group was assigned problems requiring the assistance of a computer. They were to solve the given problem, consider implications of their work, and write a research report. They learned methods of arranging equations to allow application of regression analysis, practical applications of concepts from thermody&mics; applications of optimization techniques, and how to share responsibilities in working complex problems in a group. A portion of their grade was based upon whether they only answered the questions or if they examined other implications of their work. For example, one problem specifically asked only for the calculation of theheat capacities of diatomics as a function of temperature, but the assignment was also soecificallv Dart of a creative thinkine assignment. The kaximurn"&ade was given if they didY the reouired calculations and then demonstrated some creativity, such as doing a comparative study of the diatomics over more temperature ranges than asked, compared their results with experimental data, and then discussed the results in terms of relative populations of vibrational energy levels and inferred why such differences existed. ORen the most important results of a study are obtained by pursuing a problem or concept suggested by answers to the original problem. Most students can work in groups to obtain answers to stated problems, but few will ordinarily go beyond the required questions to see larger implications of their results. As the semester progressed, it was rewarding to see more students stretching their creativity. Oral Presentations and Group Discussions
Each group was required to choose an article from a recent issue of this Journal (in the physical chemistry class) or from a recent issue of Physics Today (in the modem physics class) and to prepare a 15-minute oral presentation and a written report. To promote attention on the part of all the students, the final exam had one question from each oral presentation. Copies of all written reports were olaced on reserve in the lihrarv so that all students could study each report on their own'time. Presentations were to be designed so that everyone could understand the concepts, using analogies to nonscientific concepts when possible. Methods of oral presentations included blackboard lectures, combinations of blackboard and overhead projection talks, and short "plays" where the characters were reporters interviewing scientists or students. One group presented a talk on freezing point depression of nonideal solutions and made ice cream for the class demonstration. To~icsresented bv the ~ . h.v s i c dchemistrv classes ineluded thk following: Hurricanes Jogging and Heat The Electric Eel The Stretching and Oxidation of Rubber Bands Microwave Ovens Homeruns and Humidity Physical Chemistry and the Drinking Bird Entropy and Information The Breathalyzer Test A World of Color Thermodynamics of Recycling C60and Other Cluster Compounds: Soccerballs in Space? Enzymatic Catalysis and Binding Energy Volume 70 Number 6 June 1993
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Relationship Between Electrons and Nodes I Have Found You an Argument The Theow of Quantum Mechanics Freezing Point Depression in the Ice Cream Realm The Loch Ness Monster, Gannets, and Boyle's Law Topics presented in the Modem Physics class were: The Origin and Fate of the Universe
Quantum Effect Devices Superconductivity White Dwarf Stars Supercomputer Applications I n all the group assignments, it was rewarding to see the students talking about their projects during the semesters and to receive questions that demonstrated that the students were thinking creativelv about the conceots. All of the oral presentations were well done, interesting, and imoarted considerable current information to the classes. h e exam questions on the presentations were designed to demonstrate a n understandine of abstract conceots in terms of fundamental variables, and most students answered the auestions verv well. The written reoorts of the groups were'technica~l~ Letter written, and demonstrated a better basic understanding of the concepts, than most reports done on an individual basis. The questions from the class and the teacher were answeredkell by the groups, and the classes demonstrated a lot of interest in most topics by asking questions and making comments. Questions of a creative nature such a s "What are some societal impacts that could result from the application of quantum effect devices?" were answered well and showed that the students had been thinking about the implications of the material read from the journals.
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Conclusions Every class member is forced to study and participate in the class in a creative fashion by:
literal reading of each chapter for the purpose of writing an outline, writing outlines of each chapter scan-readingof journal articles to choose a tapic for a report learning creative reading by reading articles associated with the group reports with a goal of being able to explain the material to a nonscientific audience writing a group report presenting a gmup oral report solving camplex problems requiring computers and writing reoorts based uoon the solutions and extensions of the solutions and preparing for exam questions on the group reports In addition to these requirements, they also had "normal" homework assignments, five hour exams, and a final comprehensive exam. Even most "normal" homework assignments are completed much more thoroughly in classes with these creative components added, and students ask creative ques-
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Journal of Chemical Education
tions about implications of those problems even though thev are not reauired. I t is clear. from student interest. .level of and other measures, that the students understand the material in a much more comprehensive manner than prior to the introduction of these creativitv-inducing comoonents. Further, I have data concerning student r&ponies to the following type of questions in exams given over many years: Order the followine molecules as to increasine boiline -.D O ~ L ~ : methane, methyl chloride,acetone, benzene, u-dinitrobennene, andp-dinitrobmrcnc. Explain. In such oroblems thev are piven no data and no hints so they have-to use theiycreatkty to analyze the problem and solve it. Other such problems are Order the following ions as to their ion conductivity in solution: H+,MgS,and Bas. Explain. Sketch a second virial coefficient vs Tdiagram for two molecules of your choosing which have different types of intermoleeular forces and explain your diagram. Order the folluwing diatomic8 as t o expected values of their characteristic vibrational temperature. Explain. I n all such problems, the major credit is given to the explanation, and, as the four creative methods have been added to the courses. the Dercent of students eettine correct answers has drimatiially increased as h& theaverage level of the explanations. The students have also responded with higher favorable evaluations of the teacher and the course as these components were added. The students have more work to do than in a "normal" course, but most of them consider the deeper understanding of the material that they acquired, and the method of analyzing problems which they can use in all areas of their lives well worth the effort. These four components can also be used in other classes, but the group pr&entations would be too time-consuming in a large freshman class. All group experiences seem an imoortant uart of the total exuerience. and these are hi&y enmiraged for those classks small enough to utilize such an approach. My goal of having students who can reason through a question concerning macroscopic phenomena in terms of fundamental orooerties of molecules. atoms, and ions became much cioser to reality after these four components were included in the required material for the class, and I highly recommend such an approach, or a creative modification of it. Literature Cited 1. Meyers, Chet. '2aehiw Students to Think Cdtimllv, JosaetBasa Publishers. k 1091,68,44%453. 2. ~ a l m w . 0W. J ~ h e Edw. 8. Bodner, G.M.J. C b m . Edue IWB.63.873-878. 4. Pestel, Beverly C. J Chem Educ 1983 65,444. 5. Emi& J J . C d l C o w . Commun. 1977, 26,122-128, 6. Thall, E.;B a n , G. J Chem. Educ 1989,66,662463. 7 . Wilson. J. T.:Chslmers.Neubauer. I. J Chem Educ. 1888.65.936939. S. ~llbee,'~.: Jones,E. J. C b m . ~ d & 1889.66.226229 9. Radgers,G. E.J. Chem. Educ. 1984.61,99W392.
